The Riddle
by phollie
Summary: ..."Ishida never would have guessed that the prettiest girl in his class, graceful scarlet flitting around the room like a merry mist, would ever be sleeping on the grass just two feet away from him." A first kiss oneshot. Ishihime. Flustered and cute.


**So, I've given up on trying to hide the fact that I am a huge IshidaxOrihime fan. Truth be told, I think they're bloody adorable, and this just had to be written before it boiled over out of my brain.**

**So, uh, here it is. Cute little oneshot, set in the Sereitei shizz, when these two cuddly loons are running around and…yeah, you get the drift. ::scratches back of head awkwardly::**

**I do not own Bleach. Which is probably for the best.**

…

_Because Orihime really is a pretty, pretty girl._

She is a riddle, for the lack of a better term in Ishida's mind, for the light sheen of perspiration that lies over the bridge of her nose gives her a glazed-over sort of charm; the thin veil of ginger hair fanning over her face goes unnoticed by the sleeping girl, in spite of the unexpected humidity that hangs heavily over their heads. He briefly takes note of how ironic it is that the Soul Society would be _humid_, of all things, but purses his lips and nudges his glasses up his nose. He will live.

Ishida has lost track of how long the girl has been out. The heat of prancing around the quarters, ducking and leaping and dodging any risk of being seen, must have gripped Orihime hard by the shoulders until she collapsed with a weary sigh, her weakened body falling into Ishida's arms. This makeshift bunker has been concealing them for at least a handful of hours, because the sky is the telltale indigo of night, sticky and clammy.

But Ishida sits. He will sit in this grassy trench until Orihime awakes, because the idea of shaking her into conscience and getting back to their traveling is nothing more or less than uncouth.

She is a clingy sleeper, though, like a newborn child reacing out for their mother. She curls up, uncurls, twitches and sighs back into an elegant calm before repeating the cycle. After so long of sitting here beside her, Ishida has memorized it, learned to expect each and every shift, nodded to himself when he is proven correct in its exact order.

They have only touched once during her sleep, not of Ishida's doing, but of hers when she had went slightly out of regulation and reached her tiny hands outwards before curling back up. Her fingertips, cool and pale, had grazed against his knee, throwing Ishida off guard enough to nearly leap up off the ground, yet she remained asleep.

Entirely out of regulation…somehow, it fits Orihime a tad too well.

She fascinates him. This girl, he has known her for awhile by now, but never before had he expected her to be his comrade in such a dire situation. Ishida never would have guessed that the prettiest girl in his class, graceful scarlet flitting around the room like a merry mist, would ever be laying on the grass just two feet away from him, dressed in the black and white robes of the squad that they had managed to dupe.

He could cringe at his mental word choice. _Graceful scarlet. Prettiest girl. _

Ishida stands up with a light exhale and rolls his narrow shoulders back, hearing a relieving crack in the stiff joints. He is growing restless knowing that their time is dwindling down dangerously, but he cannot simply rouse her up onto her feet in such a fragile state…not after hearing that exhausted sigh, catching her and carrying her to somewhere safe. Not after that unexpected touch upon his knee from the redhead lost in a dream.

_Stop thinking about it._

Realizing that standing is not in the best taste when trying not to draw attention, Ishida hurriedly sits back down next to Orihime's sleeping form and simply _waits._

His eyes are fixed on her. Her lips are creased in a concerned grimace, but it melts back into a smile within seconds.

_Orihime…well, you've certainly surprised all of us. I don't know how you do it…you remain so happy in the midst of all of this, without a single complaint or frown. Yet you've seen so much…_

Ishida's train of thought is severed when the girl stirs, rolling over onto her back and turning her head to the side, one arm across her chest. Her hair is a soft net over her lips, but she does not wake.

_I don't even know how you can sleep in a place like this...you have so much trust in everything, it's…disturbing. _

Then again, she is sleeping by him, her partner, her comrade with the same mission; saving Rukia before the bell of death rings. How many times has he saved her by now? How many times has he ensured her safety, seen her stumble and nearly crash to the ground in a blushing heap, all the while feeding off of her light, her motivation and determination that she emanates so effortlessly?

Ishida, under the assumption that Orihime will not be waking up any time soon, lays down and begins to count.

When he reaches twenty, Orihime is out of regulation once more. She rolls over just as Ishida begins to sit up, surprised by her movement, and blearily mutters something that Ishida does not catch.

For her lips have, accidentally, unthinkably, brushed against his at their shifting, fluttering across his suddenly frozen mouth as she fully sits up. She is too blurry with sleep to even realize what has occurred, and Ishida finds himself scuttling away from her in a frenzy. "O-Orihime, I - if I had known you were a-about to sit up, I wouldn't have - Orihime, I didn't mean to-"

He is pushing up his glasses, stuttering and backing away from the girl who is now rubbing her eyes in a daze, stretching her arms up above her head and giving a grand yawn. "Uryuu-san…?" she mumbles airily.

But Ishida is still apologizing, sputtering and trying to cover up a mistake that surely he could have avoided by merely waiting just an extra beat to sit up, or to have been more alert to the girl's actions. He clears his throat, in which is closing up at his own embarrassed panic. "I, uh, I didn't know you were going to sit up, see, I thought you were still a-asleep because you had been sleeping so long, and…"

It appears as though he has run out of words to say, and Orihime is gazing at him with foggy almond eyes that look as confused as Ishida is flustered. While her hair is slightly mussed, she is still painfully beautiful, even with the slick sparkle of sweat on her forehead and nose, and the lost look in her eyes does nothing but deepen the blush to Ishida's cheeks. "Uryuu-san, what are you talking about?" she asks softly. She cocks her head to the side, analyzing his flushed face with an innocence that Ishida turns away from, clearing his throat nervously. "And you're all red in the face, like a big turnip or something. Did you get sunburn? Maybe we should have thought to bring sunblock before we came here…because I burn easily, too, so you're not alone in that at all."

Her amiable giggle rings through Ishida's heated ears, but nevertheless, she is delightfully clueless that she, Orihime Inoue, the scarlet mist, the prettiest girl in homeroom, has accidentally stolen the boy's first kiss.

…

**Wow, I actually really like how this turned out! Flustered Ishida and oblivious Orihime…oh, how I love them.**

**Feedback is always appreciated! **


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